Dinner with my family is also going to be crazy, we’re Italian.
We are loud.
We are inappropriate.
We are fiery.
We are direct.
We offer a lot of food to everyone and anyone, and think something is wrong with you when you decline the third helping of cake.
Basically I just answered all your questions, theories, and do right stereotypes of Italian families.
But the best part is, we are like a mini community.
No matter how inappropriate, loud, offensive or just plain painful our family is, 20 seconds later everyone is joking around, probably setting the scene for another inappropriate, fiery and offensive joke/comment.
That’s what I love about my family.
We can say what we like, when we like, and if you have a problem with it – tough! Deal with it, get some thick skin, build a bridge over it, and GET OVER IT!
All this talk about respecting ones feelings and talking nicely over the table, while waiting for everyone to finish each other’s sentences before you speak, is just plain stupid and illogical. I don’t get it, I don’t want to get it, and quite frankly, I don’t want to hear about it!
Yeah my family can drive crazy but that’s who they are.
An ex-friend of mine grew up in a family where not one of them really talked to one another. I sat at their table once and observed how a typical Australian family might interact and it looked like they had just met. Everyone was polite, quiet when people spoke, no one raise their voice, or even laughed loud. No one really talked about what was going on in their lives, just chit chat. Huh?
I’m not one to judge how another family interacts with each other but then if they don’t talk about the hard, difficult stuff; the stuff that is complicated, heavy, painful or just plain sticky – something is wrong.
In my family, we talk about relationships, work, alcohol, holidays, sometimes parts of the body (but please note nothing creepy just brothers saying my face looks like a female body part as a way to rile me up and get a reaction… bloody brothers). Sometimes I am exhausted talking about my parents’ dysfunctional relationship and sometimes I just want to stay quiet while they chat amongst themselves.
I can’t imagine living somewhere that takes me away from them because they are my support network, my energy. But sometimes, I just want to shake them and say, ‘its quiet time, go play in the play pen, sssshhh’.
Dinner with the crazies – I wouldn’t have it any other way!
